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Friday, December 3, 2010

"Nothing appears more surprising . . . than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few."

Which brings us to today. What is it about law-abiding American citizens, exercising their God-given and inalienable right to arms, announcing their adherence to the ancient concept of righteous self defense -- folks who believe that a right un-exercised is a right that has been lost -- what is it that so excites our opponents to condemn us, to vilify us, to try to marginalize us, indeed, to seek to disarm us?

It is this. . .

It is only CITIZENS who have arms.

Serfs, indentured servants and slaves do not. Bearing arms is the mark of a citizen, and the elitists who run the various parties, as one corrupt administration follows another, find citizens extremely inconvenient to their plans. You must CONVINCE citizens -- by force of argument, by appeals to reason or fact or even emotion -- but you must CONVINCE them. You cannot order them about as serfs.

For CITIZENS have arms, and citizens can say, and after a long train of abuses and usurpations, "Oh, HELL NO!"

AND WATCH OUT WHEN THEY DO.

Gentlemen and ladies and Nancy Pelosi too.

WATCH OUT WHEN WE DO.

The ability to say "No!" is the difference between a free man or free woman and a slave. Slaves cannot say "No!" and remain slaves. Indeed, over the long span of history, this is how slaves ennobled themselves and freed themselves -- by saying "No!" and meaning it -- regardless of all dangers, regardless even if it meant their deaths. They said "No!" and became free, even if for an instant. Finally, throwing off their yokes, they died as Spartacus and his followers, as free men and free women. -- Mike Vanderboegh, speech, Fort Hunt Park, Virginia, 19 April 2010.

I have been treating my chronic insomnia these days by taking on a book that, although ten years old, I had never read -- Seduced by Hitler. I have not finished it yet, but regard these words from the Introduction.

Scholarly writing about power and authority in police states has so far been based on a very narrow definition of power; the ability to compel citizens to do something against their will. In these terms, the power of Communist and National Socialist leaders was near absolute; the machinery of state terror was such that almost everyone could be forced into some form of compliance through fear. But not everyone could be forced into total compliance all the time. For power did have its limits, and the reason is plain; even in a closed society or a police state, power is always more than the threat of force. It is a balance between terror and consensus. . .

There was, however, no inevitability of punishment for the ordinary German for the countless acts of nonconformity to which the secret police did not respond. There were practical reasons for this. The Gestapo was small. The Gestapo -- the Geheimstaatspolizei -- had 40,000 officials watching a country of eighty million. By contrast, the East German Communist Stasi employed 102,000 agents to control only seventeen million. The comparison, made by Simon Wiesenthal, is not a watertight one; the Nazis had other monitoring institutions apart from the Gestapo, and the Stasi had over four decades to develop.

But the point is important. There was one Gestapo officer for every two thousand people, while the Stasi had an agent for every 166 people. The East German could reckon with a strong possibility of an informer being present at every dinner party. The inhabitants of the Third Reich could, by and large, eat in peace. The Gestapo's main targets were the declared opposition: Communists, Socialists, non-German minorities -- above all Jews, but also Roma (gypsies) -- and the churches.

Perceived weaknesses -- homosexuality, marriage to a Jewish spouse -- were exploited; the draconian laws that could be applied in the mere possibility of this happening helped bring about conformity.

For the most part, though, ordinary Germans were left alone. The Gestapo was too busy dealing with those considered a real threat to the Reich. "Many Gestapo officers, as long-time policemen, also understood the need to be sensitive to popular opinion when dealing with ordinary citizens who posed no real threat even if they had been caught committing a minor offense," writes Eric Johnson in a comprehensive study of Gestapo influence. Hence by applying leniency or pressure depending on the situation and the offender, the Gestapo officers coated Nazi terror with a legalistic gloss that helped legitimize their activities in the eyes of a largely faithful German populace. . .

For ordinary Germans then the terror was not stark, and it only rarely figured in their daily lives. The regime had to accept David Hume's insight: "Nothing appears more surprising to those who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few; and the implicit submission with which men are resigned their own sentiments and passion to those of their rulers."

The Scottish philosopher goes on to say: "When we inquire by what means this wonder is effected, we shall find that, as force is always on the side of the governed, the governors have nothing to support that opinion. It is therefore on opinion only that government is founded; and this maxim extends to the most despotic and most military governments, as well as to the most free and most popular . . ."

For "opinion," one should read "consensus." The Nazi leaders acknowledged the need to react to, as well as shape, public opinion. The 1943 Rosenstrasse protest -- when German wives of arrested Jewish men marched through the streets of Berlin in defiance of the regime -- illustrated the domestic vulnerability of the Nazis. Concessions were made quickly; none of the marchers was arrested; and their husbands were released. By 1943, the Nazis simply could not afford to alienate the many friends and relatives of Jews married to Germans. Stalingrad had fallen, Germany was being bombed. Maintaining morale was of more importance than deporting Berlin's last remaining Jews.

The Nazi leadership, startled by the protest, realized there were other issues to consider. What if a brutal suppression of Rosenstrasse triggered other outbreaks of civil disorder? Loyalty to a regime that was faltering militarily could be spread thin at times of defeat and misery. Strategic and domestic imperatives overrode the ideological aim of deporting more Jews . . .

A premium was placed on making ordinary Germans happy; or at least diverting their discontent with leisure cruises, cars, and cheap holidays.

This weakness at the heart of the police state was grasped by those Germans who chose to think and act. . .

Yet, there was only one Rosenstrasse demonstration. Most German Jews were not saved by an underground network of sympathizers. Most of them were killed in the camps. -- Seduced by Hitler: The Choices of a Nation and the Ethics of Survival by Adam LeBor and Roger Boyes, pp. 3-8.

Consider, apply to your situation, and act.

We outnumber these domestic enemies of the Constitution and we have but to realize that -- to withdraw our consent -- to refuse to be lulled or seduced, and to sweep them, collectivists all, into the dustbin of history.

12 comments:

Anonymous
said...

"Nothing appears more surprising to those who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few; and the implicit submission with which men are resigned their own sentiments and passion to those of their rulers."

This is no surprise. Most humans have agoraphobia in the face of the mighty universe. Most humans run screaming to any parent figure that claims it can protect them. Of course the 'parent' has a different agenda, and always demands they relinquish their individual sovereignty.

The "six degrees of separation" thing, I guess. Statistically, we each know someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who once met a "terrorist." So if they trace, tap and track ALL of us, EVENTUALLY some informational tidbit MAY be heard. Then they can go teach the guy how to make a bomb and catch him just in time and make headlines. Or "not catch him in time," like that Reichstag Fire thing.

“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them, and these will continue till they have been resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they suppress.” - Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave who knew a little bit about tyranny.

The establishment's desparate slandering of (Democrats), and attempts to co-opt (Republicans), the Tea Parties is a good example of tyrants who see a threat that the catatonic masses might be waking up and may no longer quietly submit.

Fear is pummeled into you. Solutions are kept from you save those that ensure you will acquiesce to being their slave.

Fear is a boogeyman, a cipher of whatever you think threatens you... or whatever your enemy uses against you to ensure compliance. Obedience.

They're monsters yes, and their psyop against the American People have been unqualified successes. I'll tell you this-when you confront them, you find out they're typically craven cowards.

They expect you to be like them-cowards, but without the power they wield. You call them on their bullshit and their spell breaks.

You can do this even in a secret, non-confrontational way. Even so much as removing yourself from their slave system can gird you for when you will have to confront them head-on. You will have to confront them head-on these people cannot be convinced by anything less.

One thing to remember is we American's who hold our God Given Inalienable Rights dear will fight to preserve them. They must weaken them, by taking little parts of freedom at a time, till we have lost too much freedom and submit to slavery. I for one refuse to back up one more inch. I will do what ever is needed to defnd this republic and my freedom. Mike, today might be a good day to reprint "What can a hand gun do?"

This story disturbs me. Do the Muslims have their mini-Reichstag Fire -- and their Marinus van der Lubbe? CAIR is calling for more protection for Muslims. Helen Thomas, former White House reporter, has a book out complaining about Zionism and American and world descrimination against ... ARABS. (Israel is 1% of the land in the Middle East, remember) http://headlines.verizon.com/headlines/portals/headlines.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=headlines_portal_page__article&_article=3227656

Hey Sean, Only problem with what you say is that you assume we "sheep" aren't armed too. When you racist rightwingers get your 'revolutionary' courage up enough to act, it's not just police and army guns you'll be facing, tough guy. I bought my guns precisely to protect my family from YOU.

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What Does It Mean To Be A "Three Percenter"?

These four principles -- moral strength, physical readiness, no first use of force and no targeting of innocents -- are the hallmarks of the Three Percent ideal. Anyone who cannot accept them as a self-imposed discipline in the fight to restore the Founders' Republic should find something else to do and cease calling themselves a "Three Percenter."

No, I'm NOT Charlie. I am ARMED.

Edmund Burke reconsidered in the light of 20th Century funeral pyres.

"Remember: Evil exists because good men don't kill the government officials committing it." -- Kurt Hofmann.

The Nyberg Battle Flag of the Three Percent

This time we are ALL Davidians. This time, we are all Jews, Kulaks, "counter-revolutionists" and "enemies of the state." We are now a despised minority within a country no longer our own.BUT WE WILL NOT BE DESPISED.

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Advice on child rearing from my son.

Everyone should grow up with simulated equipment from a heavy weapons platoon. It gives you a more well rounded education and an appreciation for the finer things in life. -- Sergeant Matthew Vanderboegh, United States Army.

"Progress made under the shadow of the policeman's club is false progress."

I believe that liberty is the only genuinely valuable thing that men have invented, at least in the field of government, in a thousand years. I believe that it is better to be free than to be not free, even when the former is dangerous and the latter safe. I believe that the finest qualities of man can flourish only in free air – that progress made under the shadow of the policeman's club is false progress, and of no permanent value. I believe that any man who takes the liberty of another into his keeping is bound to become a tyrant, and that any man who yields up his liberty, in however slight the measure, is bound to become a slave. -- H.L. Mencken

On the efficacy of passive resistance in the face of the collectivist beast. . .

Had the Japanese got as far as India, Gandhi's theories of "passive resistance" would have floated down the Ganges River with his bayoneted, beheaded carcass. -- Mike Vanderboegh.

In the future . . .

When the histories are written, “National Rifle Association” will be cross-referenced with “Judenrat.” -- Mike Vanderboegh to Sebastian at "Snowflakes in Hell"

"Smash the bloody mirror."

If you find yourself through the looking glass, where the verities of the world you knew and loved no longer apply, there is only one thing to do. Knock the Red Queen on her ass, turn around, and smash the bloody mirror. -- Mike Vanderboegh

From Kurt Hoffman over at Armed and Safe.

"I believe that being despised by the despicable is as good as being admired by the admirable."

From long experience myself, I can only say, "You betcha."

"Only cowards dare cringe."

The fears of man are many. He fears the shadow of death and the closed doors of the future. He is afraid for his friends and for his sons and of the specter of tomorrow. All his life's journey he walks in the lonely corridors of his controlled fears, if he is a man. For only fools will strut, and only cowards dare cringe. -- James Warner Bellah, "Spanish Man's Grave" in Reveille, Curtis Publishing, 1947.

"We fight an enemy that never sleeps."

"As our enemies work bit by bit to deconstruct, we must work bit by bit to REconstruct. Be mindful where we should be. Set goals. We fight an enemy that never sleeps. We must learn to sleep less." -- Mike H. at What McAuliffe Said

"The Fate of Unborn Millions. . ."

"The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their Houses, and Farms, are to be pillaged and destroyed, and they consigned to a State of Wretchedness from which no human efforts will probably deliver them. The fate of unborn Millions will now depend, under God, on the Courage and Conduct of this army-Our cruel and unrelenting Enemy leaves us no choice but a brave resistance, or the most abject submission; that is all we can expect-We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die." -- George Washington to his troops before the Battle of Long Island.

"We will not go gently . . ."

This is no small thing, to restore a republic after it has fallen into corruption. I have studied history for years and I cannot recall it ever happening. It may be that our task is impossible. Yet, if we do not try then how will we know it can't be done? And if we do not try, it most certainly won't be done. The Founders' Republic, and the larger war for western civilization, will be lost.

But I tell you this: We will not go gently into that bloody collectivist good night. Indeed, we will make with our defiance such a sound as ALL history from that day forward will be forced to note, even if they despise us in the writing of it.

And when we are gone, the scattered, free survivors hiding in the ruins of our once-great republic will sing of our deeds in forbidden songs, tending the flickering flame of individual liberty until it bursts forth again, as it must, generations later. We will live forever, like the Spartans at Thermopylae, in sacred memory.

-- Mike Vanderboegh, The Lessons of Mumbai:Death Cults, the "Socialism of Imbeciles" and Refusing to Submit, 1 December 2008

"A common language of resistance . . ."

"Colonial rebellions throughout the modern world have been acts of shared political imagination. Unless unhappy people develop the capacity to trust other unhappy people, protest remains a local affair easily silenced by traditional authority. Usually, however, a moment arrives when large numbers of men and women realize for the first time that they enjoy the support of strangers, ordinary people much like themselves who happen to live in distant places and whom under normal circumstances they would never meet. It is an intoxicating discovery. A common language of resistance suddenly opens to those who are most vulnerable to painful retribution the possibility of creating a new community. As the conviction of solidarity grows, parochial issues and aspirations merge imperceptibly with a compelling national agenda which only a short time before may have been the dream of only a few. For many Americans colonists this moment occurred late in the spring of 1774." -- T.H. Breen, The Marketplace of Revolution: How Consumer Politics Shaped American Independence, Oxford University Press, 2004, p.1.